Death Takes a Holiday
by JustWhelmed
Summary: The Doctor takes on an enemy as old as time with the help of Mary Thornton, a young woman waiting to die at the hospital that the Doctor finds himself battling it out with his new foe. Watch as the two take down the new baddie and then go traveling where they, naturally, run into some more trouble.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own The Doctor or Doctor Who. I know, sad day. But I do own Mary Thornton.

_I'm dying and I'm okay with that, really. I have "come to terms" with this a long time now. Once the chemo stopped working there was only so much I could do. Like I said, it's okay. Most women who were only 27 and not married and had no kids would probably not be able to just let go and prepare themselves for death. I guess after losing my parents when I was 18 and my grand mum two years ago has made me numb to the whole idea of death. I'm tired of waiting this out alone. No, I'm exhausted of waiting. _

_The reason that I'm writing this is partly to pass the time and partly to do with the fact that he may come back and I wanted to thank him. _

_Doctor, if you're reading this, know that I am truly happy that I went with you. Everywhere that we went has been more than wonderful; as you have been and the marvelous police box of yours. I can hardly imagine where, or when, you are now as I'm writing this but I hope it's as beautiful as the beach that we went too. You made my last days the best I've ever had. Thank you for the adventure, Doctor._

Mary Thornton was growing tired of the hospital. The facilities were stark and clean, the staff was respectful and good to the patients, and the food was bearable but that didn't change the bright, white curtains and the deafening silence that surrounded her. Granted, this was the floor where patients were sent to spend their last days in peace and quiet, but it didn't mean the whole floor had to become a mausoleum. It was too quiet- all the time.

Today was different, though. Three times the floor was full of alarms and beeping machines. Even though she feels awful that three people have finally passed away, she welcomes the sounds of alarms, rushing feet, and yells of "clear!"

The floor was quiet again now. And she felt alone, again. Mary came here so that she wouldn't be alone when she would ultimately die from her cancer but being on this floor has made her feel more lonely than ever.

There were a few other people on the floor but they were on the other end, away from her. Letting the silence lull her to sleep, Mary's eyes were barely closed before one of her curtains was hastily pushed to the side by a man wearing a dark blue suit and red tie.

"Hello!" The man said with a smile. "I'm the Doctor. I'm here to uh-check on you."

The "Doctor" stepped closer to Mary's bed and looked around as if he was looking for something specifically, but oddly, not Mary herself.

"I'm sorry, what's your name?" Mary asked, trying to start conversation with the man.

"Just the Doctor," the man said as he reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out an odd-looking device. He pressed the button on it causing it to make a buzzing sound as he moved the device over the machines and Mary's bed.

"Tell me, uh, I'm sorry, what's your name?" The Doctor asked.

"Mary Thornton." She replied, watching him look at his device.

"Well, Mary Thornton, how are you feeling today? Anything unusual?" He asked.

"Other than the dying bit, I feel fine." She replied dryly.

The Doctor stopped scanning and looked genuinely concerned.

"You're dying?" He asked.

"Are you new at this?" Mary asked with a small laugh. "Yeah, I'm dying. Been waiting to die for six months now. Cancer can be tricky like that."

"Ah, yes, right, cancer. Sorry for that. But-"

The Doctor was cut off by alarms going off down the hall.

"Bloody hell, that's the fourth one today." Mary said.

The Doctor put his device back in his pocket as he walked towards the open curtain.

"I need to check on that, and you, Mary Thornton, are not going to die today." The Doctor said with a brilliant smile and ran towards the commotion down the hall.

Mary listened to the muffled commands given by a doctor and the staff working diligently when the lights began to flicker and a dark shape was in the opening of the curtain that the Doctor left open when he ran out.

At first she thought it was a trick of her mind but the sound of whispering and the dropped temperature in the room caused her to take a better look.

The shape looked almost like the form of a person but it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. The lights stopped flickering and she felt goosebumps on her arms.

AN: Hope you like this spitfire of an idea I have. Please review and let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Just Mary Thornton and this silly idea of a story.

The erratic beeping of Mary's heart monitor brought her back from her awe and fear of what just happened. What had just happened? What was that in the opening of her curtains? Why did she get so cold all of a sudden?

Mary was so caught up in her thoughts, she didn't notice the tall, thin old man standing in the opening of her curtains. He had a black suit on with a slim black tie and his shiny black shoes matched his dark eyes. His hands were overlapped on top of a black cane that had a silver snake wrapped around it, going up to a silver skull. The skull looked a lot like his face- with high cheekbones and a sharp chin.

"Hello," the old man said, looking right into Mary's eyes. Before she could answer he spoke again. "I am Mr. Black, a representative of the hospital. How are you feeling today?"

Why does everyone keep asking her that?

"I feel fine." Mary replied, uncomfortable under Mr. Black's scrutiny.

He took a couple steps closer to her bed and then asked, "You are dying are you not?"

"Wow that was blunt. Yes, I am dying but today does not feel like the big day."

Mr. Black smiled at her response, making her want to hide under her covers. He picked up her charts from the end of the bed and looked at them briefly, put them back, and walked to the side of her bed.

"Would you mind if I took your pulse. Just a precaution, I assure you."

"I guess," Mary had not time to say anything else before Mr. Black took her wrist in his bony hands.

His hands were freezing. She literally felt like his hands were turning her wrist to ice. His hand was so cold that her whole arm began to get cold, the goosebumps coming back, and she began to shiver. The coldness began to edge towards her chest as he just smiled at her, making her feel uneasy.

She was beginning to feel uncomfortable and unbearably cold when the Doctor appeared.

"Get away from her!" The Doctor yelled as he tried to grab a hold of the Mr. Black but the old man disappeared just like the dark figure that Mary saw.

Heat began to be restored in Mary's body except from where Mr. Black had held her wrist.

"Oh, Mary Thornton, I'm so sorry for this," the Doctor said as he moved to her side.

"What- what just happened?" Mary asked, fear laced in her voice.

"You just encountered a very old and very deadly being from all across time and space. People of Earth like to call it the Grim Reaper or Death. Really there's a whole bunch of names that you people like to call it- in some villages it's just a bunch of clicking of the tongue-"

"Did you just say Death?" Mary asked, interrupting the Doctor's rant.

"Yes, Death. The man who takes people's souls. Which is why he's here, to take people's souls and feed off of them. He was trying to take yours just then before I stopped it. You're welcome. Now I have to figure out where he will go next." The Doctor replied turning to leave.

"Doctor?" Mary asked.

"Yes?" He replied, turning to her.

"My wrist is still cold from where he held it. Will that go away anytime soon?"

"Oh brilliant! He's going to come back for you!" the way the Doctor was so excited about this was a little unsettling for Mary.

"This is a good thing? I know I'm technically living my last days here but that doesn't necessarily mean that I have to be excited about a creepy old man coming after my soul!" Mary said, choking on her words.

The Doctor walked up to her bed, sat down beside her, and took her now trembling hands in his.

"I will not let you die, Mary Thornton, not today. But I do need your help with this. We can stop him."

"Who are you, really?"

"I'm the Doctor, just that. And I'm a Timelord."

"A Timelord? What is that? And how can we stop Death?"

AN: if ya like the story, I like reviews, so let me know.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Mary Thornton.

"I was able to take the whole part about you being a time- traveling alien, because, well, why not? I bet it's a great way to pick up girls. Yet I can't seem to believe that this will work." Mary said looking at the Doctor who was now sitting in a chair beside her bed with his legs propped up on the blankets.

"Why? What's wrong with it?" He asked.

"Well, I mean, blood from a dead person to kill Death? Doesn't he get off on that?"

"No, just souls. And it won't kill him so much as just… send him away to some other place and time. But I want to talk with him first, see if he will have a change of heart so I won't have to stick him."

"And I'm just supposed to lie here and let him snack on my soul?"

"Yep! Brilliant, right? How's the wrist, by the way?" he asked as he got up and took her wrist in his hand.

"Still cold. I think it's even getting colder."

"It is; he'll be coming back soon."

"So, we're just supposed to sit here and wait for him to come?"

"Believe me, I don't like it, either, but it's the best way."

"Alright, if we have to sit here and wait for Death, which I've been doing for quite a while now anyways, tell me something about a time or place that you've been too. It's not every day that you meet a time-traveling alien while waiting to fight the big, bad Death."

The Doctor couldn't help his look of amusement as he looked at Mary. Not only was the woman perfectly okay with the fact that Death was coming after her not only today, but what seems for months, but she was acting as if meeting a Timelord was no big deal.

"What would you like to know?" He asked. "How Napoleon Bonaparte had short-man syndrome? Or how Prince Charles of Wales likes his tea? Maybe you would like to know how New Jersey becomes New New Jersey?

"New New Jersey?"

"After the world explodes, a new Earth will be created."

"The world explodes?" Mary asked with wide eyes.

"Not for millions of years. All of the inhabitants of Earth have a chance to get off the planet before it does." He replied.

"Well that's good. Where did they go?"

"To the moon. A moon base will be built a couple thousands of years from now."

"Have you been to it? Or the moon itself?"

"Oh yeah, loads of times. One time even inside a hospital that got transported to it. Good ole moon, it's bouncy." The Doctor replied as he bounced on his heels with a big grin on his face that Mary couldn't help return.

A comfortable silence fell between them. Mary shook her head then spoke. "I'm talking to a man who's been to the moon, in the future. That's bloody brilliant. I must admit, I envy you, Doctor."

"Why's that?" he asked.

"You travel around space and time, who wouldn't want to do that? Especially someone like me, just sitting in a hospital bed waiting for time to stop ticking for them and who's left with only their imagination and dreams of what could have been." She replied with a sad smile and watery eyes.

The Doctor moved back to the chair by her bed and sat down.

"I could take you with me."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that," Mr. Black interrupted the Doctor.

Mary hissed with pain as her wrist began to throb with a freezing stinging.

"You can't have her; it's not her time yet. You're messing with people's fixed times and I don't appreciate that. I'm giving you a chance to stop." The Doctor said, as he stood between Mary and Death.

Mr. Black appeared suddenly in front of the Doctor, grabbing his throat.

"You have many lives inside you, Doctor. I think I'll deal with you after Miss Thornton. Her soul is calling to me." He said and then tossed the Doctor through the curtains into the hall, crashing into the wall.

When Mr. Black turned his attention to Mary, he was surprised to find her standing firmly with every bit of courage she could muster.

"Who knew that Death was such a bully?" Mary said as she slowly walked towards the opening in the curtains.

"You can't run from me. Your soul is mine." Mr. Black said, following her with his cold eyes.

"Technically, it's my soul. And I'm not running from you, if anything, I'm one of the few people who would welcome you. But I do know that what you're doing isn't right." Mary replied as she backed slowly out into the hall. "And do you know how I know this?"

"How?" he asked snidely.

"I've been around death for three years now. I have watched fellow patients die around me and my own family die by something as terrible as a car crash and as silent as a heart attack during sleep. I have been labeled as part of the dying for almost a year now, so I know my time is coming to a close but it is not this day." She said as she stood, taller than any brave man about to die that Death has ever seen, in the middle of the hall.

"No one has ever been so open about Death with me like that in a long time, I almost feel bad for your death." Mr. Black said as he walked up to Mary.

"No more killing," a voice said behind Death.

He turned around to find the Doctor, determination on his face.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, you cannot have her."

"Then I'll have you." Death said as he once again went for the Doctor's throat.

As Death's hold began to take its effect on the Doctor, Mary was once again forgotten. What Death did not realize was that, when he tossed the Doctor earlier, the dead man's blood was dropped on the floor, close to where Mary stood.

Death smiled in triumph. It's not every day he gets a 903 year-old soul. The Doctor tried desperately to get out of Death's chokehold but Death was too strong.

It was when the Doctor stopped struggling and with the sharp pain in his back that Death remembered Mary.

AN: Thanks to StaroftheDunedain for being my beta and thanks for the reviews! Ya know, if ya leave 'em…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't anything except for Mary and the hope that one day the T.A.R.D.I.S. will land in my yard.

Death was used to being the one to kill, not being killed.

Dead man's blood seeped through his veins, burning everything inside. He was used to feeling all the emotions, thoughts, and memories of souls he took but this was the first time he actually felt _life_.

Death is darkness, and life is light- and it burnt through him.

Mary stared in awe of what just happened. Did she really stab Death with dead man's blood? Did she just kill Death?

As Death crumbled to his knees, Mary saw the Doctor as he sat on the floor, and he looked at Death with what seemed like sadness and regret.

She walked over to the Doctor and kneeled beside him.

"I'm sorry, I know you wanted to give him a chance but he was killing you." She said, barely above a whisper as they watched Death writhe in pain.

"It had to be done," the Doctor said as he moved to stand up, taking Mary's hand, pulling her up with him.

As the two watched Death feel the life course through his veins, they watched as he slowly faded away into nothing. He was barely an outline when he said, "You may have gotten the best of me, old chap. Miss Thornton, I'll see you soon."

And he was gone.

As Mary continued to look at the spot where Death had been, she heard what sounded like deep breathing. It was as if an asthmatic person was having a fit beside her. The Doctor took her in his arms and spoke to her. "It's alright, Mary, he's gone."

He slowly rubbed her back and coaxed her to bring her breathing back to normal. She took long, deep breaths to get her breathing to mirror the Doctor's.

Mary's breath, and her voice, came back to her. "We fought Death. Death!"

The Doctor smiled. "And we were brilliant, especially you. Come one, let's get you back to bed."

"No!" Mary said as she stepped away from the Doctor. "I mean. I could go for a walk instead."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah. Besides, I was getting a little tired of sitting there, waiting for death to come." She replied with a smile.

"In that case, Mary Thornton, would you like to go with me?" The Doctor asked with a brilliant smile.

Mary had forgotten what jeans felt like. She had worn hospital clothes for months now and she had missed the comfortable feel of jeans and her mother's Rolling Stones T-shirt.

But the marvel of her clothes went away the second she stepped onto the T.A.R.D.I.S.

The Doctor waited for the usual "It's bigger on the inside!" quip then watch as his companion ran back outside to see that they in fact stepped into a Police booth. Mary, on the other hand, surprised him by simply saying, "Oh, that's brilliant!" while turning in a slow circle looking at her surroundings. As he leaned against the console, the Doctor watched Mary look around the T.A.R.D.I.S. with the amazement his companions always have on their faces.

"I know where I want to take you first, if you're ready?" The Doctor asked.

Mary turned to the Doctor with a smile and shining eyes, "Absolutely ready." She said as she walked up to the console beside him.

The Doctor turned to the console and pressed buttons and turned knobs. "Hold tight," he said and nodded to the console.

Mary braced herself while the Doctor pulled a lever and the T.A.R.D.I.S. jolted and began whirring with life. The Doctor danced around the room as he pressed buttons, pulled at levers, and even punched the console while Mary just watched in amusement. The T.A.R.D.I.S. whirled around the time vortex for just moments before the police box came to a sudden halt, sending Mary sideways.

The Doctor caught her before she hit the floor and said, "We're here."

Mary straightened up, her hands on the Doctor's arms that were still around her. "And where is here?" she asked.

He took her hand in his and took a step forward. "Take a look," he said.

She looked at him briefly before she took a deep breath and led him towards the door. Her hand paused in midair before she looked back at the Doctor. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Go on," he said with a gentle smile.

She pulled the door open and found herself at Wembley Stadium.

She's been to Wembley Stadium before so it was a bit of a letdown for a time-traveling alien to bring her there until she noticed the people around her better.

Women with big hair and leather skirts and men with holey jeans and leather jackets were walking towards the stadium.

"Never really understood the fascination with big hair in the 80's," The Doctor said beside her.

"The 80's? What year is it?" Mary asked.

"1982," he replied, as he looked at her knowingly, "Come on, we don't want to miss the concert."

Before Mary could ask anything else, the Doctor led her towards the entrance. He walked right up to the entrance to the ticket taker and brought out what looked like an inspector badge of some sort to Mary.

"Two to see the show, thanks," The Doctor said.

"Alright, enjoy." The ticket taker said as he nodded to the entrance.

When they walked inside a good few feet away from the entrance Mary asked, "What did you show him? A time-traveler's badge?"

"Psychic paper, people see what I want them to see." He replied and showed her the blank paper. "See?"

When Mary read what the Doctor wanted her to read, she looked at the Doctor with a lit up face, clutched her shirt and said, "We're at the Same Rolling Stones concert this shirt is from?"

"The very one. I told you I had an idea where to take you. Like it?"

"I love it!" she said.

The Doctor and his companion walked with the other fans to the concert area.

Mary took everything in as they walked to the middle of the floor to get a good view of the stage. She looked at all the people as they talked and waited for the show to start when she noticed something she wished she hadn't.

She let out a gasp which caused the Doctor to turn to her in concern. "What is it?" he asked.

"That's my mum! And that's not my dad!" She said as she pointed at a younger version of her mother who was kissing a dark-haired man.

"Well, it is an original concert t-shirt," the Doctor said as he looked at Mary's shirt.

Mary laughed. "I guess so. Wait, we won't have to leave now, will we?"

"Why would we leave?"

"It's not against time rules or anything like that, is it?"

"Only if you walked up to her and told her you were her daughter."

Mary didn't get a chance to speak before the lights dimmed and the familiar chords of "Start Me Up" began to play. Mary's face lit up as she turned to the stage.

The Doctor just smiled as he watched her.

A few hours later Mary and the Doctor found themselves back in the T.A.R.D.I.S. Mary couldn't keep the grin off her face.

"It's amazing that Mick still has those moves." Mary said.

"Oh, good ole Mick won't ever lose his moves." The Doctor replied.

Mary laughed. "I can just see him now with a hip replacement dancing around the stage with a walker."

"He actually does that in 2021!" The Doctor replied.

"He actually makes it that long? Good for him." Mary said with gentleness in her voice.

The Doctor knew where her thoughts went so he did what he does best - travel across time. He went to the console and started playing around, and brought the T.A.R.D.I.S. to life.

"Mary Thornton, how would you like to go to the beach?" The Doctor asked.

She walked up to the console as she asked, "Where is this beach?"

"Oh, just beach of Fabarona in 4023."

"Fabarona? Where is that?"

"About five billion galaxies away from Earth."

Mary's face lit up once again, which caused the Doctor to smile with her.

"That sounds wonderful!" she said.

"Allons-y!" The Doctor exclaimed as he pulled a lever.


End file.
